44
No.3.
RECO
C.0.
3079
&
Government House € FEB
Hong-Kong, 6th. January, 1899.
sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of your Circular despatch of the 9th. November last and its
enclosure containing the suggestion that Colonial Governments
should satisfy themselves that goods bearing marks indicating
British origin, which arrive in a vessel which has cleared from
a British port, are really of British production or manufacture
and are not foreign goods which have merely passed through the
United Kingdom.
2. There is no Customs establishment in this
Colony, and no means of examining imports, and I find on inquiry that very few complaints have ever been received here of
breaches of the Act. Under the circumstances I fear that such
an examination as that suggested is impracticable.
I have the honour to be,
sir,
Your most obedient
Humble Servant,
Henry
GOVERNOR,&C.
The Right Honourable
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN,M.P.
8c0.,
80.9
"eby
1